Create your own unique musical compositions with Incredibox. Express your inner musician with this simple way of creating personal musical masterpieces. Choose from one of the four versions, version 4 is more recent, and easier to use and understand. Simply drag and drop to add beats, melodies, a chorus, and special effects to create a musical creation. When finished add clothing and hats to characters and bring your entire composition to life!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Incredibox as a great warm-up activity for a choir, band, or any sort of music appreciation class. As part of music class lessons, discuss the different elements in compositions. Use in any class as background music for podcasts, movies, PowerPoints, or blogs. Highlight and honor the musical geniuses in your classroom with this easy tool. Allow your learning support students instant success while challenging gifted students to create the perfect piece. Use in writing class to create mood. Play a composition as background while reading poetry or doing artwork. Help students memorize mnemonics by accompanying them with an audio track a la rap. Use music tracks as a writing prompt and enjoy the fun.

Remember playing Spirograph as a kid? Now you can create and play online with Inspirograph! Choose from fixed and rotating gears, and then change the size of the gears. Change the background and pen colors using the toolbar. Click on the + sign to personalize colors. Be sure to view the gallery of saved designs for lots of inspiration when beginning. Click the download icon to save images to your computer.

In the Classroom

Use Inspirograph to create fascinating art and to explore math concepts. Have students experiment with different gear sizes (both fixed and rotating) and explain changes. Design a table for students to map out findings such as number of points made when using different gear sizes. Find patterns between the fixed circle sizes and the number of points generated. Work collaboratively with other groups of students to create and answer questions about spirograph designs. Identify the various shapes created. For gifted and advanced students, find information on formulas for spirograph designs here. Be sure to sign up to receive notification when the Inspirograph app is available for mobile devices.

Love Google Doodles, those fun and spontaneous changes to the Google logo? View the gallery of Google Doodles on this site. Click About on the top menu to learn the background of Google Doodle. View the Doodle Archive with the newest Doodle appearing first on the page. Click the information button (i) for each doodle to bring up an information box. Click on More Doodle Details to go to the Doodle page or click Search for to learn more about the topic or date. Move from one Doodle to the other by clicking the forward or back arrows on each Doodle page. Click Doodle4Google to view the Google contest. The competition typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for ideas on sparking and nurturing creativity in kids of all ages. Check back to find the next Doodle4Google contest for students.

In the Classroom

This amazing collection of Doodles can be used to spark thinking in a variety of classes. Use the Doodles to teach a little history. View the resources about the event, person, or country that inspired the Doodle. Encourage thinking with your gifted kids by sharing the whole gallery for exploration or a specific Doodle. Use these Doodles to spark a new project idea or challenge kids to create a simple "doodle" as a new way to report on a historic figure or a content idea. Think your students will be intimidated making a computer Doodle? Consider creating a Doodle using any computer art software or simply creating one on paper. Use these ideas in Science to show the scientific inventions or concepts. In social studies, use Doodles to showcase specific events here and around the World. When looking at perspectives of people around the world, create doodles that can show more than one point of view. Write paragraphs or stories based on Google Doodles. Use Google Doodles in STEM initiatives at your school. Don't forget Art or Gifted programs! Get your students excited about the making of the Doodles and what code writing can do! Use tools such as Scratch, reviewed here, or Tynker, reviewed here, to practice coding.

Comments

Great ideas for short, informative paragraphs to practice this type of writing. Let kids find a google idea for a day, for their particular world/setting/priorities...FUN! Archives are instructive.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

The Annenberg Learner Foundation's goal is to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg Learner's multimedia resources help teachers increase their expertise in their fields and improve teaching methods in all grade levels in all subjects. There are video resources for all subject areas. Find lesson plans for all subjects by grade level. A variety of interactives accompany lessons or can also stand alone. Follow the monthly updates and blogs for the latest information.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In your classroom, explore the interactives available to enhance your lessons. Use the lesson plan library to add a new twist to your subject matter. Organize a professional study of your area of concentration for your department or grade level.

Quill is an interactive grammar program with over 150 Common Core, grade level aligned, lessons. Sign up to use the program by entering your name, username, password, and (optional) email. Create a class and track progress, assess, and assign what individuals have not mastered. The program has color-coded "heat maps" to track progress easily. This tool individualizes grammar and writing for ALL learning levels. There are exercises revising interesting passages. There are also practice questions that require the writing of complete sentences.

In the Classroom

There are two ways for students to sign up. Give them the code to join the class, and they sign up themselves, or you enter them manually making the student username a combination of their name and the class code. Challenge (and excel) your gifted students with the concepts practiced at this site. Since student assignments are at their level, students can experience significant acceleration in practicing these necessary skills. ESL/ELL students will undoubtedly benefit from the practice using correct English, in their writing, over a continuous period. Use this site as part of your rotation during learning stations or centers. Inspire every student in the class to become a proficient writer by using Quill at least weekly. Be sure to share this tool on your class website so that students can practice at home, too.

Join BirdSleuth, an inquiry-based science curriculum that engages kids in scientific study. Use real data collection and scientific process. Study nature and discover the real-world importance of data (entered by students and used by scientists). Kits are available for purchase. However, many free resources are available: Citizen Science Bird Quest, Feathered Friends, Investigating Evidence, HomeSchoolers' Guide to Project Feeder Watch, Evolution in Paradise, Using eBird with Groups, Explore Life Cycles Through Nesting Birds, and more.

In the Classroom

Science classes come alive using BirdSleuth's free resources. Captivate students while discovering the importance of nature and our interactions with it. In gifted classes, use this idea as an example of project-based learning. Pair it with a book such as Hoot by Carl Hiaasen to include ties with literature. Use this resource to build understanding of stewardship in our environment and of man's impact on nature. Develop research and include language arts standards to document the research, study, and findings.

Anybody Can Learn Code is designed to spark interest in learning to code, especially among girls and the very young. Find lessons for beginners, Kindergartners to tenth graders (or older). Start by clicking Learn in the top menu bar. Find an Hour of Code with 20 puzzles that use a drag and drop process and problem-solving skills. Complete the Hour of Code and select Beyond One Hour. Find everything an early coder needs to get started coding: A K-8 Intro to Computer Science, Tutorials that teach Javascript, Tutorial apps for any device, Learn to program with robots, and many others. There are also "unplugged tutorials" for classrooms without computers. On the top menu, click on the Teach button to find the link to videos (half way down the page) from famous people about how and when they learned to code. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube. Code.org is available in 20 languages.

In the Classroom

Make coding part of science inquiry or math logic in any classroom. Include it as part of scientific method or discussions about careers in science. You may even want to portray coding as just another "world language" in today's world. Be sure to look at all the implementation advice before introducing these extensive coding resources to your class. It would be wise to complete the Hour of Code yourself so you will feel comfortable helping students if they get stuck. Better yet, invite a few students to do an hour with you after school and learn together! You will have a team of "techsperts" to help their peers. Select the Learn button from the top menu to find two links for educators. The one at the top of the Learn page gives quick tips for prepping for the Hour of Code. The one at the bottom of the slide gives complete instructions for implementing the Hour of Code in your classroom. Plan an hour of Code on nationally designated days or on your own calendar! Invite the PTA/PTO to host a coding event. Select a video to use to introduce Computer Science to your students. In a 1:1 or BYOD classroom, guide students through the site using Surfly, a tool to share the web pages with others, reviewed here. If you only have a few computers, introduce this tool using a projector or interactive whiteboard and bookmark it as a learning station with earbuds/headphones. Encourage students to help each other when they have difficulty. Share this on your website for students to use at home, too. Anybody Can Learn Code teaches the basics. Those students who show a keen interest in coding could learn more by using a program such as Codeacademy, reviewed here.

Collapsus is a simulation that combines interactivity, animation, fiction, and documentary to look into the future as an imminent energy crisis affects ten young people. Participants make decisions about solutions to the energy crisis and leave a mark on a national and global scale. Live action footage along with animation helps characters understand each situation while vlog posts offer up to date information about the world and personal situations.

In the Classroom

Collapsus is a great way to make students think about and discuss a real-world issue in a science class or even in a government class where you talk about the role of public policy in energy use. Explore and play Collapsus on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as you debate and discuss choices. Have students explore individually or in groups and compare the impact of different decisions. Use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast two different decision choices. Create a quick poll (with no membership required) using using Kwiqpoll, reviewed here, to use when making decisions as a class.

PeaceMaker is an interactive inspired by real events in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Download the interactive game and install on most Windows or Mac computers in English, Arabic, or Hebrew. The game is based on real life events (completed in 2007 and copyright 2010). Click to read the Blog about the game in the context of events today. Once installed, choose one side of the society to lead and work to curb violence and find a path to peace. Along the way make decisions based on events that pop up in the world map. Your choice should lead to satisfying the needs of your people, and work toward a mutually satisfying cooperation with the other side. Be sure to watch the trailer for an overall view of activity components. This trailer and other videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Include Peacemaker in units on current world events or the Middle East to help students understand the complexities in this tumultuous zone. Download and install PeaceMaker onto classroom computers (or request it from your tech department if you do not have admin access). Let students peruse it individually or in pairs. Share the activity on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and discuss moves together as a class. PeaceMaker would be an interesting opening to any unit on conflict resolution, international conflict, or decision-making skills. You can also discuss the changes in the Middle East since this version was created, asking student groups to read current articles and then create a description of what they would ADD or change in the game to make it reflect the current Mid East developments

Looking for a challenge that can really make a change? The Biomimicry Design Challenge encourages participants to solve real-world problems as teams, basing their ideas on nature's own "design." Past challenges include Transportation and Water. You must be in a degree program to participate in the actual challenge, but anyone can read about current and past challenges. Read the Challenge details including judging criteria. View the Submission Gallery and past challenges to get ideas for your own challenge. Refer to the Biomimicry in Youth Education resource, reviewed here, for more information about the basics of Biomimicry.

In the Classroom

Use ideas from these challenges to plan a challenge at your school. Use the challenge to spark teams of students to think outside the box and be innovative in solving some of today's problems. The challenge would be a perfect way to excite Gifted students about science and engineering. Use the judging criteria to develop your own scoring of student projects. Display student designs during a school-based Science or STEM Fair. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge Multimedia tools, reviewed here.

The Wright Experience lets you rediscover the innovation and designs of the Wright brothers. Follow the steps in analyzing photographs, making designs, and running tests to make an actual life sized reproduction of the Wright kites, airplanes, and gliders. In every model, find the design, assembly, control, and flight tests. Follow wind tunnel testing to analyze flight performance and see the reinvention of the Wright Brother's works. Explore the different parts of Orville and Wilbur's planes. The education area features videos showing testing or flights. Find links to many other useful sites. Find the latest news about any flight re-creations. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Bring the spirit of invention alive in your classroom. Follow the process, from the earlier designs through each later design, each building upon its predecessor. Discover the many types of testing done to determine limits for each problem. The videos of flight will bring your class on board with Wilbur or Orville! Share the videos on your projector (or interactive whiteboard). Discover the steps to the scientific method or design process to apply in other projects. Include this project in a study of leadership or as a lesson in the perseverance of innovation! Use it as an introduction to your Discovery Fair or Science Night.

Looking for free, educational, Flash-based activities? Go to eduXtive and find a variety of activities from preschool to high school. Categories include: Art, Brain, Financial, Geography, Keyboarding, History, Basic Math, Algebra, Fractions, Geometry, Memory, Colors and Shapes, Preschool, Numbers, Responsibilities, Puzzle, Science, Skills, and Strategy. Don't miss the Protein Synthesis Race. Follow the DNA quiz to Amino Acid Match. The great variety in activities will keep you discovering new and exciting material every time you visit. Be sure to look at the extensive tag list at the bottom of the home page to find all "game" categories. Watch out for some advertising links. Some appear to be part of the site.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Find the topic area you are studying to accompany your lessons. The activities provide remediation or enrichment depending on your need. Make a shortcut directly to the actual game page for a classroom center to use with younger students. Expose your students to a variety of topics so they can jump right in when you start the content area study. Use the activities as an extra practice or advanced exploration. Add to your class website for students to practice at home. This site can stay on your website all year to accompany so many different subjects and areas.

Create interactive lessons accessible from mobile devices or computers using GoClass. GoClass uses a "Show" (media elements and videos), "Explain" (notes and examples), and "Ask" (real-time assessments) format making it easy to set up your instruction and presentation. The lessons can have images, videos, links to other web pages, and text. There is a broadcast feature where you can project the lesson or send it to student devices. The broadcast feature allows for both projecting and personal devices at the same time so students can follow on their device or a large screen. Start tracking learning in real-time by creating an account with your email or Google ID. Visit the About and How it Works links to learn more about this engaging tool. Some of the introduction videos require YouTube. If YouTube isn't allowed in your school, you may want to view the videos at home.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Set up your account and your classes. Students can be added to a number of "courses," making GoClass a great tool for differentiation! Differentiate the instruction for your gifted students using this tool. Set up mini "courses" for your students so they access the material they need at their level. Use GoClass with your students to introduce whole class instruction for a concept and then assign them the activity through their mini-course to differentiate the instruction. Make your meetings with teachers (grade levels, departments, and professional development) interactive using GoClass. You can create 12 lesson plans for free.

Just the facts, ma'am. Knoema's World Data Atlas provides a dizzying array of data about the countries of the world. Sort either by country (from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe), or by topic (agriculture to water). Look at zoomable, color coded maps, and analyze rankings by topic. The interface is simple and direct, so if you are just looking for a statistic, you will find it quickly and easily. If you are looking at masses of authentic data to analyze or compare, you'll find that too. Click to create comparisons among any 2 to 3 countries. There is an introductory video available, hosted on YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may need to view this video at home.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this for student research, whether it be for individual country data or for comparative data by topic. Use the maps on an interactive whiteboard (or projector) to provide a visual representation of the data. This is a great source for authentic data for students to practice their analytic skills, or just to find out what the GDP of Antigua and Barbuda is. This is a resource that will see frequent use. Share it during math units on data, as well, so students have authentic numbers to "play with." Have them write their own data problems and questions for classmates to solve. Challenge your most able student to determine why two countries are so different.

We know our own lifetimes are but a tiny hiccup in the long history of the Earth. But what HAS happened since we were born? The BBC will tell you. Simply enter your date of birth (using the day/month/year format) and some other information (you can choose either metric or Imperial/US measurement), and a wonderful series of charts appears! How many times has your heart beat? How old would you be on Venus? How has the Earth changed since you were born? How has humankind changed the Earth since you were born? How many volcanoes have erupted? What's happened to the sea levels? How many endangered species have become extinct? This site is created by the BBC (United Kingdom). American English speakers may notice some slights spelling differences. It is best viewed in Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 10 and above.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Look at the various metrics based on your age to gain perspective on many science and history topics. Look at the impact of human behavior on the environment or at the "big picture" of what one human can do in a lifetime. Consider comparing the changes on Earth based on a student's age versus a teacher's age (if you're brave enough to tell!). You can also dial back the clock 100 years, but choose times in modern history for the comparison. Don't forget to use the dropdown menus on each chart for more information. For example, pick any planet to see how old you'd be there. Small groups of students could discuss and analyze different components of the site and present their findings to the larger class. Include this in math class as a way to apply multiplication formulas or conversions. Use observations on this site to spark blog posts of evidence-based writing. Have students make visual representations of their life on Earth as an infographic. To learn more about infographics in the classroom, see TeachersFirst's Now I See!.

Mathwiki is a collaborative, open access math textbook for higher level math. The wiki is constantly updated by university faculty and students to offer an ever-growing resource. Its purpose is to be a supplement to traditional textbooks. Choose the "Mathematics" icon to begin. Choose from several categories such as Algebra or Geometry to continue. Narrow choices within each group to find information by topic. When looking for specific content, use the search bar to find all relevant information. Some content areas contain more information than others.

In the Classroom

Provide a link to MathWiki on your class website or blog for student use at home. Share information from the wiki on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to supplement current learning materials. Use the wiki to find questions and student problems for classroom use. Differentiate learning for gifted students using content provided on the wiki.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and editorial cartoonists have been boiling down the foibles of politicians and public figures throughout history. One needs only to know about Thomas Nast and his cartoons of Boss Tweed during the 19th century to know that cartoons have a deep impact on political discourse. Cartoons for the Classroom offers over 250 one-page downloadable lessons featuring two or three political cartoons related to current events and several questions for discussion that relate to those cartoons. Alternatively, download the cartoons alone along with space to "draw" your own conclusions.

In the Classroom

These one-page discussion starters could help students keep up with current political issues, provide an opening or closing activity, or serve as an enrichment activity for students who move through other assignments more quickly. Available either with or without guiding questions, and covering a wide range of relevant and timely topics, they are perfect to keep as a Plan B or for an emergency substitute teacher activity. Elsewhere on the site are links to other information about political cartooning through history; most of these links connect to outside sites so be sure and preview carefully. In Art class, create a "political" option during a line drawing unit for current events enthusiasts to draw their own political cartoons. Include these cartoons during a unit on humor and satire in an English/Language Arts class or gifted program.

Down the Drain is a free Internet-based collaborative project that has classes around the world share and compare their water consumption. For a detailed explanation, visit the New to the Project link. The project includes a hypothesis, prediction, data collection, and comparing results. The data collection period lasts one week. There is a link for Student Activities. The Teacher Guide link offers an overview of the project, publishing policy information, and extension activities. The project says it is designed for grades 4-8 but can be used in upper grades, as well.

In the Classroom

Bring problem-based learning into your classroom and share the results globally. Encourage multiple classrooms or schools in your area to participate. Extend the project by having collaborative groups find water saving ideas to employ in school, at home, or in the community. Find ways to share results locally in newspapers or news channels to encourage community involvement. Present findings with a variety of multimedia: PowerPoint, Prezi, reviewed here,
video, podOmatic podcast, reviewed here,
artwork, poetry, or song.

Interactive Graphic Organizers help to gather thoughts, visualize, understand, or organize. Find interactive graphic organizers from categories such as identifying/organizing details, order and sequence, cause and effect, process diagrams, persuasive position support, vocabulary, and many others. The selected organizer will download in PDF format. The features of the form are: interactive form fields, highlighting, adding mark-up, commenting, and saving it all. Find accompanying teaching notes for each organizer by clicking on the link in the paragraph at the top of the page. The teacher guide has detailed lessons and suggested uses.

In the Classroom

Mark this site on your class web page, put it on your task bar, and add to all student computers. Demonstrate by using and creating your customized graphic organizer. Turn it into PDF format and save or print. Get students in the habit of using graphic organizers to improve achievement, organization, and details.

Raindrop.io is a smart bookmarking tool to "collect" online and media content. It is available as a mobile app, as a web tool, and as a browser extension for Safari, Chrome, Opera, or Firefox. After adding the extension to your browser, a couple of clicks saves and organizes content into thematic collections. Collections can include videos and other content. Watch the tour videos to see how it works. Add tags, and drag and drop bookmarks between collections as you wish. Browse your collections using the search bar and keywords. Use Raindrop's social networking feature to create and share collections or find and subscribe to others' collections. Receive a weekly email digest of your bookmarks, or turn that feature off.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Raindrop.io to create a bank of resources to use for each content unit within your subject or your class. Have students download and use the materials you provide via Raindrop to make their own projects, complete webquests, or to learn independently. Create a separate class account for students to curate their own lists of bookmarks and resources. Use this tool to compile web treasure hunts to learn or introduce any topic within your content area. Collect links to informational texts for students to read "closely" a la CCSS. With younger students, create collections of audio books for children to view and listen to. Share simple interactives teaching colors, numbers and more for a computer center. Have students create their own Raindrop as a place to store links for a project. Share a link to your Raindrop on your class webpage. Save pictures of class activities with a Raindrop collection to share with parents. Encourage your gifted students to curate collections of media and articles above the level of current curriculum or for individual research on related topics they are interested in. Share these "advanced" collections with all students to spark personal learning.